MERRY JANE's Guide to This Week in Music

Hard to select one track from Banks's stellar surprise mixtape that dropped last week, Slay-z, “The Big Beat” is an easy standout. While Banks continues to piss people off in the public eye, it’s hard to deny that she is the shit. Do you, Azealia? I’m still on board if you keep dropping tracks like this one. Just listen to the entire record, it’s worth it.

Brooklyn based Gabrielle Smith, better known as Eskimeaux, is still riding high off her critically acclaimed O.K. in 2015. Out with a new mini-album, “Drunk” gives a little taste of what we can expect from the artist moving forward. And if it continues to be raw, relatable and endearing, you can expect this release to be as successful as the last. See you at Myrtle-Broadway.

London based GAIKA released “PMVD”, the first single off his experimental upcoming mixtape SECURITY. It’s mystical yet grimey, with hard hitting lyrics revolving around the singers self-proclaimed fear of death. A smooth yet heavy listen, leaving me looking forward to the remaining tracks.

“Do you believe in heaven / like you believed in me?” Michelle Zauner questions in the first track off Japanese Breakfast’s debut album, Psychopomp. Easy and melodic, the track reminds me of the great 90’s girl wave that came through, teaching us how to feel while we doodled in our trapper keepers. Stream the entire album via HypeMachine now.

In honor of the bands re-emergence from “retirement”, I give you their one (of many) tracks that cuts the deepest. Not only does James Murphy capture the hum-glum glaze of living in New York, he gives us all the words to express it as well. As you walk down the trash riddled streets, dodging frozen rats or whatever the city spits out that day, into your tiny box apartment, it’s hard to imagine why we do it. Why the fuck does anyone live here? But then bands like LCD Soundsystem come here to play their 2 night kick off reunion shows, and suddenly you remember why you put up with all this city’s garbage in the first place. Even though you couldn’t get tickets. This is New York after all.

MERRY JANE's Guide to This Week in Music

Hard to select one track from Banks's stellar surprise mixtape that dropped last week, Slay-z, “The Big Beat” is an easy standout. While Banks continues to piss people off in the public eye, it’s hard to deny that she is the shit. Do you, Azealia? I’m still on board if you keep dropping tracks like this one. Just listen to the entire record, it’s worth it.

Brooklyn based Gabrielle Smith, better known as Eskimeaux, is still riding high off her critically acclaimed O.K. in 2015. Out with a new mini-album, “Drunk” gives a little taste of what we can expect from the artist moving forward. And if it continues to be raw, relatable and endearing, you can expect this release to be as successful as the last. See you at Myrtle-Broadway.

London based GAIKA released “PMVD”, the first single off his experimental upcoming mixtape SECURITY. It’s mystical yet grimey, with hard hitting lyrics revolving around the singers self-proclaimed fear of death. A smooth yet heavy listen, leaving me looking forward to the remaining tracks.

“Do you believe in heaven / like you believed in me?” Michelle Zauner questions in the first track off Japanese Breakfast’s debut album, Psychopomp. Easy and melodic, the track reminds me of the great 90’s girl wave that came through, teaching us how to feel while we doodled in our trapper keepers. Stream the entire album via HypeMachine now.

In honor of the bands re-emergence from “retirement”, I give you their one (of many) tracks that cuts the deepest. Not only does James Murphy capture the hum-glum glaze of living in New York, he gives us all the words to express it as well. As you walk down the trash riddled streets, dodging frozen rats or whatever the city spits out that day, into your tiny box apartment, it’s hard to imagine why we do it. Why the fuck does anyone live here? But then bands like LCD Soundsystem come here to play their 2 night kick off reunion shows, and suddenly you remember why you put up with all this city’s garbage in the first place. Even though you couldn’t get tickets. This is New York after all.